Wind power is considered one of the cleanest, most environmentally friendly energy sources presently available, and wind turbines have gained increased attention in this regard. Generally, a wind turbine includes a tower, a nacelle mounted on the tower, and a rotor coupled to the nacelle. The rotor typically includes a rotatable hub and a plurality of rotor blades coupled to and extending outwardly from the hub. Each rotor blade may be spaced about the hub so as to facilitate rotating the rotor to enable kinetic energy to be transferred from the wind into usable mechanical energy, and subsequently, electrical energy.
The particular size of the rotor blades is a significant factor contributing to the overall efficiency of a wind turbine. Specifically, increases in the length or span of a rotor blade may generally lead to an overall increase in the energy production of a wind turbine. Accordingly, efforts to increase the size of rotor blades aid in the continuing growth of wind turbine technology and the adoption of wind energy as an alternative energy source.
Previous efforts have been made to extend the length of installed rotor blades in a retrofit procedure, including replacing the original tip of the rotor blade with a tip extension. This method is problematic, however, because the blade root of the rotor blade is typically not strong enough to support a tip extension having suitable dimensions for making the process financially viable. For example, in many cases, the tip extension would need to add an additional annual energy production (AEP) of approximately 20% to make the replacement financially viable. This generally corresponds to an increase in blade length of approximately seven meters. Yet an original blade root can typically only support an increase in tip length of approximately two meters (2 m). Further, such replacement efforts to extend blade length typically involve the use of costly cranes.
Accordingly, a system and method for installing a blade insert between a root portion and a tip portion of a wind turbine rotor blade would be welcomed in the technology.